Disclosure: Runtal gave me a discount on the retail price of this baseboard heater.

Last summer, the impetus for my office remodelwas to make it warmer in the winter. My office is in basement — it’s a walk-out basement — and my office is on the corner, two walls to the outside. In the winter, the space was cold enough to require my running one of those little space heaters all the time. And then, it still was chilly. Since I now work at home full-time, I decided to invest in comfort — and yes, it was super fun to decorate the walls with nearly 300 pieces of vintage wallpaper, all Holly Hobby on hallucinogenics-style. The two key steps we took to improve the comfort level in the room: (1) we built out more studs and put in a double layer of insulation on the outside walls and (2) installed this 4′ long Runtal electric baseboard heaterunder the window. Six months later — and well into a freezing cold winter — how is it all working out?

On Saturday, I went trolling around for treasures. I stopped at the new Re-Store in Pittsfield. Usual story: I found a light for $10, a 4-switch vintage wallplate for 25 cents, and just as I was about wrap it up, I spotted the real treasure: 80 inches of gold sparkle laminate, kind of hidden under a pile of wall cabinets among a used kitchen cabinet set. Happy dance. It’s in excellent shape, barely needs a cleaning. It’s 20″ deep — perfect for what I have in mind for the window wall in my office remodel. It cost just $8, and it even fit in the car once we put the seats down, no return trip with the Ranger required.

Yes, after endless research and second-guessing, I ended up using one of my first ideas — Ikea Trofast children’s storage shelves and bins — for the collage and crafts work space and storage that were a key addition to my office remodel. Alas, my design is not an “epic” solution, and you know how I like the idea of being the epic-est. But: This set-up was cheap, cheerful, fast, functional and fit my space to a tee. It was destined to be. Read on for more about why I am super happy with this solution… and hey, I had my first Ikea cabinet assembly experience in 15 years! –>

Use your wall spaces:

To create: Built in shelves recessed in the wall — with smooth edges — no trim:

While I had my walls open during my office renovation, I used the opportunity to create some recessed shelving — making us of the space in between the studs — above where my collage working area would be. In addition, I want to point out: The edges of the shelving where it meets the drywall are smooth — we used a special drywall edger so that there is no trim required. Read on for more info and photos on how my contractor accomplished this beauteousness –>

Over the years several readers have asked about how to wallpaper a wall with vintage wallpaper. So here I go, explaining how Denise and I got all these vintage wallpaper squares up onto the four walls of my home office studio. Mind you, I am not an expert in applying vintage wallpaper. But, this is the third time I’ve put up vintage wallpaper, and the stuff hasn’t fallen down (yet). My first two experiences were (1) wallpapering the soffits and portions of the wall in my retro kitchen and (2) wallpapering my foyer. Both times I used vintage wallpaper and pretty much the same method — which worked just fine, although it was… tedious. Party on to hear about my experiences and my step-by-step.

Update: After about 10 years up, the vintage wallpaper on my kitchen soffits and a wee bit of one wall is peeling off. I am not sure why, but I am going to attribute it to the fact that, to start with, the wallpaper was very brittle. Next time I do this, I will probably use even more wheat paste… be sure it soaks in the the optimum time… and also, size the walls same day, never the day before or whatever. So far the foyer is doing fine, although I do see some bubbling in one spot, not super noticeable, though.